As part of the Puccini festival, the Hungarian State Opera is giving Pussini's La Rondine its first Hungarian staging since it was first presented in this country in 1927 at the City Theatre, in a production directed by Ferenc Anger being mounted in partnership with the Hungarian Opera of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca).

Having celebrated the Puccini anniversaries, with its new season the Hungarian State Opera will introduce the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress that is to take place in Budapest in 2020. The Opera announces its Christian Spirit Season as a monumental prologue to this significant event. At the Erkel Theatre and the newly opened Eiffel Art Studios, productions are to be staged that have either been inspired by biblical stories, or those that convey Christian ideas and values in more indirect ways, but also ones which debate them.

Oh, my God! – is what the astonished audience might have said seeing George Balanchine’s and Harald Lander’s innovative choreographies when they were first performed. The OMG dance show of the Hungarian National Ballet pays tribute to the work of the two choreographers, evoking the era between 1947 and 1950 with three pieces from the oeuvres of the two masters.

The Opera House in Budapest is currently undergoing extensive restoration and modernisation. Until its reopening in 2020, our performances can be seen at the Erkel Theatre, the second venue of the Hungarian State Opera.

Having celebrated the Puccini anniversaries, with its new season the Hungarian State Opera will introduce the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress that is to take place in Budapest in 2020. The Opera announces its Christian Spirit Season as a monumental prologue to this significant event. At the Erkel Theatre and the newly opened Eiffel Art Studios, productions are to be staged that have either been inspired by biblical stories, or those that convey Christian ideas and values in more indirect ways, but also ones which debate them.

The Hungarian State Opera offers a wide range of subscriptions for its 2019/20 Christian Spirit Season. The names of subscriptions for the 2019/20 seasons have changed, but their code numbers remain the same. This years' subscriptions have been named after artists who have been awarded the Kossuth Prize, named Chamber Singer, Étoile, or Chamber Artist, and take an active part in productions of the institute as singers, dancers, musicians, creative artists or consultants.

The Opera House in Budapest is currently undergoing extensive restoration and modernisation. Until its reopening in 2020, our performances can be seen at the Erkel Theatre, the second venue of the Hungarian State Opera.

Emanuel Schikaneder

Writer

(1751-1812)German dramatist, director, actor, singer and composer Emanuel Schikaneder was a leading figure in German theatre and opera in the late 18th century. He wrote the libretto for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, in which he also played Papageno in the premiere. He was born in Straubing, Bavaria, and educated in Regensburg, where he sang in the cathedral choir. He was active as a performer, writer and impresario throughout his career, and also danced and composed. For his Singspiel Die Lyranten, performed in Innsbruck in 1775/6, he wrote both words and music, and sang the lead role. He befriended the Mozarts in 1780, though his collaboration with Wolfgang Amadeus on Die Zauberflöte did not come about until 1791. This was one of a number of Singspiels based on his own librettos that Schikaneder commissioned for the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna: other composers who set his texts include Franz Xaver Süssmayr and Peter Winter, whose Das Labyrinth was a sequel to Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Although today Schikaneder is primarily known for his collaboration with Mozart, he was widely respected as a dramatist in his time and for decades after his death, with Goethe a particular admirer. His legacy also survives in the form of the Theater an der Wien, the Viennese theatre he opened in 1801 and which remains prominent today.